When it comes to bouncing back from a loss, the Dallas Mavericks have recently accomplished that feat better than
any team in the NBA.
Since Dec. 25, the Mavs are a league-high 8-1 after losing a game. The two teams behind them in that department are the Memphis Grizzlies and Philadelphia 76ers, who are 7-1 since Dec. 25 after suffering a loss.
The only time the Mavs lost two games in a row since Christmas occurred on Jan. 30 and Feb. 2, respectively, when they inexplicably dropped consecutive games to the Orlando Magic (110-108) and Oklahoma City Thunder (120-114 in overtime).
When the Mavs faced the Houston Rockets on Friday, they were coming off Wednesday’s dreadful 107-77 loss at home to the New York Knicks. But the Mavs made quick work of the Rockets, as they led by 29 points late in the third quarter before jogging to the finish line and winning, 113-100.
“It felt like we lost (to the Knicks) by 50 and that we only scored 20 points,” coach Jason Kidd said. “But we only gave up 107 points and we couldn’t score.
“You can re-start the battery or re-start the car in a sense that the messaging of we’ve got to get back to playing defense (and) continue to keep sharing the ball. Sometimes things like that happens in sports and you have to turn the page.”
In analyzing what the Mavs did to the Rockets, consider the page turned.
Here are our five takeaways from the 13-point win over the Rockets.
POWELL ATE UP THE ROCKETS: Whatever Dwight Powell ate for a pre-game meal Friday, he may want to consider eating that again and again and again. Not only did Powell feast on the Rockets by scoring a career-high tying 26 points, grabbing a season-high tying 12 rebounds and blocking two shots – one shy of his season high. He also converted a season-high tying nine shots in 11 attempts, and made a season-high eight free throws in nine attempts, which also were a season high. In essence, Powell crammed a season’s worth of individual accomplishments in one game. And that doesn’t include the six offensive rebounds he enjoyed, which were – you guessed it – a season high for Powell. In fact, Powell finished the game with one more offensive rebound than the Rockets’ entire team. And he had half of the 12 offensive rebounds the Mavs snatched off the glass. Even more astonishing, Powell picked up his first double-double of the season. And he already had that in his hip pocket by halftime when he scored 22 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. He became just the ninth player in Mavs’ history to have at least 20 points and 10 rebounds in one half.
DONCIC PICKED ROCKETS APART: Here’s a little reminder about the greatness of Luka Doncic. The three-time All-Star finished Friday’s game with 30 points, 14 rebounds, six assists and two blocks. It was the 250th game of Doncic’s career, which is almost four years old. And he has registered a whopping 124 double-doubles. That means Doncic remarkably has a double-double in almost half the games he’s played. And in the 51 games he’s has played this season, Doncic has 35 double-doubles – or a double-double in 68.6 percent of the games. The contest against the Rockets also was the 80th time in his career that Doncic has produced 20-plus points, 10-plus rebounds and five-plus assists in the same game. Whenever the Rockets decided to double Doncic, he simply rose up and found a wide open teammate. Picking apart defenses is what Doncic does better than anyone in the NBA. Doncic was 9-of-19 from the floor against the Rockets, including 5-of-11 from downtown. That’s the 11th time this season he’s made at least five
three-pointers in a game. Plus, in the last four games Doncic is 17-of-43 from downtown for 39.5 percent.
GREEN/DINWIDDIE STEPPED UP: Josh Green and Spencer Dinwiddie started Friday’s game and filled in admirably in place of Dorian Finney-Smith (right arm contusion) and Jalen Brunson (right thigh contusion). Green finished with 10 points, six rebounds and a career-high four steals, and Dinwiddie added 16 points, seven assists and a pair of steals. Now in just his second season, Green is getting much more playing time than he did last year as a rookie out of Arizona. “He’s taken full advantage of his minutes,” coach Jason Kidd said. “He didn’t get an opportunity to play a lot last year, so this is kind of his rookie season. He has a great locker room of guys around him helping him to have success. And that just shows he’s a good listener, and he works hard.” Green, who loves to fill the passing lanes, has three other games this season where he picked up three steals. Dinwiddie, meanwhile, has made such a seamless transition from playing with the Washington Wizards to fitting in with the Mavs, it’s as if he’s been here all season. The Mavs acquired Davis Bertans and Dinwiddie in that Feb. 10 trade which sent Kristaps Porzingis and a protected 2022 second-round pick to the Wizards.
BURKE WENT OUT AND GOT BUCKETS: Because of the log jam of multi-talented players the Mavs have at the point guard spot, Trey Burke doesn’t get to play as much as he wants to. However, he was able to log a season-high tying 23 minutes Friday and responded with 15 points on 6-of-11 shots. The only other time Burke played 23 minutes this season, it was in the Dec. 13 game against the Charlotte Hornets and he wound up scoring a season-high 22 points. Burke has seven games where he’s scored 10 or more points this season, including an 18-point performance during a Feb. 8 contest against the Detroit Pistons. Meanwhile, the six made field goals Burke made Friday are his most this season besides the nine he made (in 14 attempts) against the Hornets, and the seven he converted (in 12 tries) against the Pistons. Also, the 54.5 percent Burke shot from the field against the Rockets was the fifth time he’s made at least 50 percent of his shots in a game this season with a minimum of seven field goal attempts.
WELCOME TO THE BLOCK PARTY: In case anyone’s invitation got lost in the mail, the Mavs had a block party Friday night in Houston. And by the time the party — aka the game — was over, the Mavs had blocked eight shots. And it just wasn’t one player doing all the damage. Each Mavs’ player in the starting lineup collected at least one blocked shot. That includes two each by Josh Green, Dwight Powell and Luka Doncic, and one apiece by Reggie Bullock and Spencer Dinwiddie. According to Elias Sports, that’s the first time that happened by a Mavs’ team since March 24, 2012 when the starting lineup of Jason Kidd, Vince Carter, Shawn Marion, Dirk Nowitzki and Ian Mahinmi each had at least one block during a 101-99 win in overtime against the Rockets in Houston. Nowitzki and Mahinmi picked up two blocks apiece in that game while Kidd, Carter and Marion had one apiece. By the way, off the bench in the same game, Rodrigue Beaubois recorded one blocked shot for the Mavs. And Brandan Wright blocked an amazing seven shots, which matched the block total the Rockets had in that game.
Twitter: @DwainPrice
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